BMW hit-and-run convict Rajeev Gupta out on bail

New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Tuesday granted bail to Rajeev Gupta, a businessman convicted in the 1999 BMW hit-and-run case.

Justice Kailash Gambhir suspended Gupta's sentence till the time his appeal is heard and granted bail to him.

Gupta had argued that the lower court had failed to prove his role in the accident that took place in Lodhi Road here in the early hours of Jan 10, 1999 and killed six people.

The city court earlier this month sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment main accused Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of former navy chief Admiral S.M. Nanda.

Gupta, whose son Siddharth was also in the car, was sentenced to one year in jail along with a fine of Rs.10,000 for destroying evidence.

His two domestic helps Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh were held guilty of destroying evidence by washing the blood stains from the car after the accident, and were sentenced to six months in jail and fined Rs.100 each.

All three were given bail soon after the ruling on a surety of Rs.10,000 each.

This was one of the first instances that a court convicted the accused in a hit-and-run case under Section 304 (2) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In most cases, the conviction is under Section 304 (1) - causing death by rash and negligent act - in which the maximum sentence is two years in jail.